Review: The Mortal God (The Infinity Chronicles – Volume 1) by E.F. Skarda

Interstellar warfare and sinister plots abound in The Mortal God by author E.F. Skarda, the first volume of The Infinity Chronicles. Following the exploits of a super-soldier with incredible abilities and devastating secrets, the saga rockets into high gear with this first installment, for an explosive and surprising sci-fi thriller.

Millennia in the future, Earth has frozen to an icy ball following a catastrophic solar system event, forcing humanity to the brink of extinction, but also driving them to explore the galaxy and spread. After more than 6,000 years of wandering the stars, they were saved by the Lord Gentry, Aeron, an alien with god-like powers, and the ability to control matter with his mind.

Rallying around this newfound deity, humanity was able to once again flourish. The Dominion Army became a dominant force in the galaxy, but the rebel Splinter insurrection refuses to bow down. Exposition related to human sacrifice and blind adoration of the Royal Church is the ominous foundation upon which this future is built, creating an Empire vs Rebel Alliance aura throughout this story.

Commander Kyle Griffin is a dedicated and mercilessly efficient Dominion soldier with super-charged abilities and a reputation for saving the day in epic fashion. His heroic abilities are put on display almost immediately, setting this protagonist up quite highly in readers’ eyes, perhaps hinting at his eventual fall, as his abilities come from his father, Lord Aeron, whose divine spark poisons and kills the women who bear his altered offspring.

From such strange beginnings, Kyle passes through a life of alienation and otherness, but finds his eventual calling in the military, fighting for a cause that has been hammered into him since birth. After he is cast down from his hallowed heights, however, the true evil of the Dominion is revealed, and Kyle must seek out the most unlikely of allies to sow justice in the galaxy.

This first volume is intriguing for a number of reasons, beginning with in-depth and visionary world-building; the exposition is rolled out rapidly, but not heavy-handedly, so readers are quickly immersed in this strange projection of humanity’s future. Kyle Griffin is an immediately compelling character, duty-bound to the Dominion, yet he regularly demonstrates individuality – a temper that’s hard to control, a calculating mind that questions authority, and a lifetime of painful memories that he literally can’t forget.

Much of the story follows the military operations that drive the plot, but Skarda leaves plenty of room for character development and foreshadowing, even in the procedural sections of the narrative. Brief bursts of visceral descriptions also keep the pace up and demonstrate the flex of Skarda’s linguistic muscle.

On the technical side, there is a fair amount of clumsy dialogue, some veering into the territory of by-rote action-hero lines, but other exchanges are believable, crisp and effective. Duplications of descriptions and repetitive sentence structure get somewhat monotonous, but the action scenes are pumped full of octane, and despite being set thousands of years in the future, the militaristic jargon feels appropriate and authentic for the setting.

Brimming with mind-bending technology and conflict on a celestial scale, The Mortal God is a bold and promising start to a riveting new sci-fi series.